Spring assembly



April 1940- D. LEVINE. 2,197,131

SPRING ASSEMBLY Filed Nov. 2, 1937 Patented Apr. 16, i940 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE,

2,191,131 sramc ASSEMBLY David'l. Levine, Lynn, Mass., assignor to Lisson- Melen 00., Lynn, Mass, a corporation of Massachusetts Application November 2, 1937, Serial No. 172,363

Claims. (Cl. 5-273) This invention relates to a spring assembly of forming an s-conflgured loop in the tie-wire made up of a multiplicity of coil springs and hereof. more especially to an assembly wherein tie-wire Figures '7, 8 and 9 illustrate diagrammatically or tie-wire elements are employedifor assembling and conventionally the dies or instrumentalities 5 or tying together the springs into a unitary strucserviceable for creating the wire forms or shapes ture possessed. of the desired integrity and the depicted in Figures 4, 5 and 6, respectively. desired resiliency or spring action. The spring The tie-wire elements or units for the spring assembly hereof is designed for various purposes, assembly hereof may be formed readily as wire is for instance, as the resilient filling in'mattresses, progressively being withdrawn from a coil ac.-

10 cushions, and chair seats or backs, and as the cumulation or the like. As the wire is thus being 10.

' foundation in various structures for sustaining a progressively withdrawn as a straight body, it person comfortably in seated posture and/ or at may undergo at regularly spaced intervals a numrepose. v v ber of shaping operations designed to develop In the spring assembly hereof, wherein there therein at such intervals .S-configured loops l0 16 are successive rows of juxtaposed coil springs and protruding from its otherwise straight body I I, as is wherein the springs of one row are substantially appears best in Figure 3. aligned with thecorresponding springs in the, The first shaping operation may, as shown in next row and the juxtaposed springs. in one row Figure 7, involve passing'the wire into a die l2 are tied to the corresponding juxtaposed springs serving to create therein a loop or U-shaped bend 20 in the next row, the tie-wire or tie-wire elements l3, such as is depicted in Figure 4. The second 20 for tying together the juxtaposed springs in one shaping operation may involve upsetting the loop row to the corresponding juxtaposed springs in or U-shaped bend l3, as by the die l4 indicated a the next row assume, accordant with the present in Figure 8, so that the upper portions [3a of the invention, a special form highly advantageous for l p retain their substantial perpendicularity to such purpose, namely, .a form substantially e straight wire whereas the remainder I31) straight excepting for loops protruding at spaced of such loop 'is bent to a position of substantial regions thereof, each of the loops being substanperpendicularity to the portions Ha, as depicted tially S-conflgured and one of the hook portions in Figure 5. The third shaping operation may of the S-conflgured loop engaging an end 0015- involve shaping the loop portions I3a and l3b in go volution of a coil spring andthe other book pora multiple die l5, l6, such as is shown in Figure tion of the s-configured lop engaging an end 9, which die serves to transform such loop porconvolution of a juxtapos coil spring. Because tions into the s-conflgured loop l0 desired in the the hook portions of the S-configured loop can tie-wire hereof. It will be appreciated that the readily be closed or clamped together sufliciently successive shaping or dieing operations are per- .5 to become for all practical purposes inseparably formed at successive stages of progress of the hooked onto the end convolutions of juxtaposed wire I 0 as it is progressively being withdrawn coil springs, it. hence seen that the invention from an accumulation and that when the-desired hereof provides simple and inexpensive spring number of s-configured loops have been formed assembly wherein the springs are hingedly intertherein at appropriately spaced intervals, it may 0 locked to one another and are thus maintained in be cut into elements or units of a length suitable I the desired substantially aligned or undistorted for tying together all the aligned pairs of juxtarelationship while being freely compressible to posed springs in the successive rows of a spring afford the desired resiliency or spring action. assembl v With the foregoing andother features. and ob- The spring assembly wherein the tie-wire ele- 5 jects in view, the invention hereof will now be ments hereof are used may assumethe particular 5 described in further detail with particular referform illustrated in Figure 1 The assembly there ence to theaccompanying drawing wherein: appearing comprises successive spaced rows of Figure 1 is a plan of a corner portion of a juxtaposed compression coil springslll and II, spring assembly embodying the invention hereof. for instance, of the double-cone type. The as- Figure 2 is an enlarged detailed section on the sembly may be made by placing the coil springs, 50 line 2-4 of Figure land shows how juxtaposed as ordinarily, on a suitable ,block or form' springs in a row are hingedly interlocked. equipped with pins for holding the springs in the Figure 3 illustrates in perspective a fragment desired relationship as they are being tied toof tie-wire used for the purposes hereof,- gether at their end convolutions by the tie-wire Figures 4, 5 and 6. depict the successive stages 'elementshereof. The tie-wire hereof is prefer- .55

ably of such length that it extends from a point X beyond the neighboring portions of a pair of juxtaposed springs in one marginal row to a point (not shown) beyond theneighboring portions of a pair of juxtaposed springs in the opposite mar ginal row.

The tying together of the pairs of juxtaposed springs with their end convolutions in appropriately overlapping relationship in the successive rows is accomplished by inserting the end convolution a of a spring 20 of a pair of juxtaposed springs into one of the hook portions m of an S-configuredloop H and by inserting the end convolution Nb of the spring 2! of the same pair into the other of such hook portions Nb of the same S-conflgured loop Ill. Once the end convolutions of the pairs of juxtaposed springs in the successive rows have been engaged in the successive S-configured loops it of a tie-wire, it is a comparatively easy matter for, the assemblyman to clamp together, as by pliers, the hook portions Illa and lb of such loops so that suchportions become in eflect inseparably hooked onto the end convolutions, that is, without any tend- I ency in actual practice for the end convolutions to escape through the hook portions. Indeed, the hook portions 80a and Nb of the loop it may be brought together so closely to constitute,

in eifect, eyes through which the end convolutions of the juxtaposed coil springs are threaded. Since the end convolutions of the juxtaposed coil springs are free to turn or rotate in the closed hook portions Illa and lb when the spring assembly undergoes local compression, they may be considered as being hingedly interlocked to one another by the tie-wires hereof, in consequence of which not only are the springs of the assembly maintained in the desired substantially aligned or undistorted relationship but the several springs of the assembly and the assembly as a whole are freely and substantially noiselessly compressible and hence make for the desired resiliency or spring action in the various structures in which the spring assembly is used,

Each side of the spring assembly preferably includes the tie-wire elements hereof for tying together the end convolutions of juxtaposed springs in the successive rows, although it is possible to provide the tie-wires hereof on only one side of the assembly and to employ other forms of tie.

elements on the other side of the assembly.

If desired, the marginal or outermost portions of the end convolutions of the border springs on either or both sides of the spring assembly hereof may be flexibly interlocked, as by helical wires 22, which are shown in Figure l as encompassing the marginal portions of the end convolutions of the border springs'm 'lhe helical wires 22 thus serve in the spring assembly hereof as rims or border elements tending to resist dislodgement or misalignment of the substantially aligned springs in the successive rows, especially when the assembly meets with blow or impact on the intermediate convolutions of its border springs.

An important feature of the spring assembly hereof is that the juxtaposed coil springs of adjacent rows are so tied together by the tie-wires that while free compression of the springs readily takes place and they are free to turn to a considerable extent at their end convolutions under compressing and distorting forces, nevertheless, such compression and turning movements are not accompanied by tendency for the springs to separate or loosen from one another, since the endaromas convolution of one spring is 1,.

. by the crimped hooked portion Isa. of a tie-=wire and the end-convolution of a juxtaposed spring is firmly locked in place by the crimped hook portion Nb of the same s-coed' loop, indicated generally at it, in the tie-wire. It can be said, therefore, that the springs of the assembly hereof are hingedly interlocked by the tie-wires to one another for free compression and relative turning movement at their end-convolutions while at the same time having no tendency to separate from one another during such compression and turning movement. 1

It is to be understood that the'spring assembly and the tie-wires specifically described and illustrated are subject to variation and modification falling within the inventive principles hereof and, accordingly, that the protection to be aiforded for the invention hereof should be ascertained from the appended claims whose terms should be construed as broadly as the prior art permits.

I claim: I

1. In a spring assembly which comprises successive rows of juxtaposed coil springs and wherein the springs in one row are substantially aligned with the corresponding springs in the next row and the juxtaposed springs in one row are tied to the corresponding juxtaposed springs in the next row, tie-wires for tying together the juxtaposed springs in one row to the juxtaposed springs in the next row, said tie-wires being substantially straight excepting for loops protruding at spaced regions thereof, each of said loops being substantially s=configured and one of the hook portions of said S-configured loop engaging an end convolution of one of said coil springs and the other hook portion of said s-configured loop engaging an end convolution of a j'uxta-- to the corresponding springs in the next row, said tie-wires being substantially straight excepting for loops protruding at substantially regularly spaced regions thereof, each of said loops relationship the juxtaposed springs in one row being substantially S-configuredand one ,of the I hook portions of said S-configur'ed loop being inseparably hooked onto an end convolution of one of said coil springs and the other hook portion of said S-configured loop being inseparably hooked onto an .end convolution of a juxtaposed coil spring, the end convolutions of said juxtaposed coil springs being in overlapping relationship at their regions thus engaged by said 8- configured loop.

3. In a spring assembly, the combination with successive rows of juxtaposed coil springs of tiewires for tying together the juxtaposed springs in one row to the juxtaposed springs in the next I row, said tie-wires comprising substantially S- configured loops protruding at spaced regions thereof, one of the hook portions of each said 8- conflgured loop engaging an end convolution of one of said coil springs andthe other hook portion of said S-configured loop engaging an end convolution of a juxtaposed coil spring, the end convolutions of said juxtaposed coil springs being in overlapping relationship at their regions thus engaged by said S-configured loop.

4. In a spring assembly, the combination with successive rows of juxtaposed coil springs of tiewires for tying together in freely compressible relationship the juxtaposed springs in one row to the juxtaposed springs in the next row, said tiewires comprising substantially S-conflgured loops protruding at spaced regions thereof, one of the hook portions of each said s-configured loop being inseparably hooked onto an end convolution of one of said coil springs and the other hook portion of said S-configured loop being inseparably hooked onto an end convolution of a juxtaposed coil spring, the end convolutions of said juxtaposed coil springs being in overlapping relationship at their regions thus engaged by said 8- configured loop.

5. In a spring structure in which coil springs are arranged in pairs adjacent each other, means securing the end coils of said pairs of adjacent springs together against relative movement with the end coil of one spring of each pair of springs in overlapping relation to the end coil of the other spring of said pair, comprising 1 tie wire having straight portions resting at spaced points on the end coil of one spring of said pair and having a looped portion of generally S-shape extending from said straight portions partly around the end coil of the other spring of said pair of springs, then between the overlapped portions of said end coil, and then returned upon itself to partially encircle the overlapped portion of the end coil of said one spring.

DAVID I. LEVINE. 

